Prudential thanks

2 Oct 2006

Sew Much Comfortreceived a donation of clothing today from a small company I had never heard of before. They have only 86 people in the entire office. It is part of the Prudential Financial Corporation. This small group got together and donated 58 pairs of shorts, 9 sweatshirts and 3 swim trunks along with financial donations, some of which were matched by the Prudential's matching gift website. We appreciate their donation to the comfort of the wounded troops, but that's not why I'm writing this post. I wanted to let you know WHY they donated to Sew Much Comfort.

Here's what one of the office members wrote: "My work group is the Office of Servicemembers Group Life Insurance. We pay the life insurance claims for servicemembers when they die. We just started a new benefit called Traumatic Servicemembers Group Life Insurance to provide insurance payments to servicemembers that are severely injured. We have paid over 2,700 servicemembers for a variety of injuries such as amputations, blindness, deafness, paraplegia, etc. Our theme for the office has been "Give back to those who have given so much". It is a pleasure to be able to give to organizations that serve our troops."

I cried when I received this email. Not only does this organization support our troops and their families by their daily work, but they also have taken the time to support the organizations who strive to support them in other ways as well. As a military spouse, I am humbled when I realize the extent of support there is for my husband's profession. So many Americans, regardless of politics, going out of their way to show support. Makes me appreciate all those spouses, my mother included, who served through the Vietnam era and had to endure the antagonism of their fellow Americans.

Of more significance than my personal emotional reaction, was the realization that private insurance companies are offering this type of insurance policies and benefits. The battlefield survival rate in this war is over 95% - compared to less than 12% in the Vietnam War. More servicemembers' families will need this type of coverage and I'm glad to see it's out there for us.

I don't know a lot about this type of insurance. I would imagine it's a function of a growing acknowledgment on the part of the insurance companies of the need to serve the wounded servicemembers. I don't know if, in signing up for these types of programs, you limit the amount of coverage the government would provide or if it's on top of the benefits the government provides. I do know that Wounded Warrior Project has been successful in obtaining financial remuneration for wounded servicemembers under the Traumatic Injury Insurance Program legislation. I also know that all of us, as military spouses, need to be aware of all of these types of programs, the affect they can have on ourselves or others in our units and know how to access the information.

On that last paragraph, I acknowledged there is a lot about this I am not aware of.....so please fill in the knowledge gaps for me. If you know more about the benefits for the wounded warriors or how these types of insurance programs work, let us know.

Also, I think it's important to remember that those who work for organizations that help us as servicemember families - yes, even TriCare - should be thanked for their service to us. Dealing with a government bureaucracy is never easy and when you add the emotions of war on top of that, it can be down-and-outright challenging. It's easy to forget that the 'little people' are often there because they believe in the cause they work for and they truly do support our troops.